Trying to eat and drink my way through the world one budget meal and good quality wine at a time.

﻿Seafood Fried Rice – Quickest meal with a thousand steps

I’ve been asked to write down a recipe I created on the weekend, and sometimes when I’m whipping things up for dinner I forget what I’ve put in there. This is especially the case when I have a friend over and we’re drinking a little bit of wine*.

So, if you make this seafood fried rice and you think to yourself “Hmm, this isn’t as good as I think it should be”, have another glass of wine and add a few more things. That’s what cooking is all about, chuck it in if you think it tastes good.

Untraditional Seafood Fried Rice for Sunday dinner

Should feed 4 adults with leftovers for the teenagers the next day

1 lobster tail (completely optional if not on sale, substitute with calamari, or extra veg), chopped into bite sized pieces

500gms green prawns, chopped into bit sized pieces

1 tail salmon fillet (skinned or do it yourself), chopped into bite sized piece as well

2c long grain rice (I use Basmati)

1c frozen peas

1c frozen corn

1 red capsicum chopped into 1cm pieces

3 cloves garlic, chopped finely

1TB crushed ginger

1/4c soy sauce

2tsp sesame oil

3 eggs

1Tsp kecap manis (this is available in all supermarkets now, this is an optional extra as well)

White pepper

Coriander – for serving

Limes – for serving

I fry things a few at a time so that they don’t overcook once all combined. This way I only use one pan, and although there are a few steps, it’s not time consuming at all. I cook the rice in a rice cooker as per the directions and then spread it all out on a sheet pan to cool down. This ensures that the rice doesn’t become gluggy when combined with all the other ingredients back in the fry pan. Feel free to use cold leftover rice from last night’s dinner, this is a perfect leftover meal to create with fridge items needing to be used or chucked. Play around with the ingredients if you want. In fact I insist.

Break the 3 eggs into a bowl and whisk with the kecap manis and a dash of white pepper. Heat your frying pan to a medium heat and add a little oil, swishing it around to coat the pan. Pour the eggs into the pan and swirl around so it covers the base of the pan, this is to create the omelette that garnishes the fried rice. Scrape the pan a few times to allow the egg to seep onto the bottom of the pan which ensures that it cooks evenly. Use a spatula to lift the sides occasionally so it doesn’t get stuck, and will release easily out of the pan once cooked. Once the egg has cooked through, slide it out onto a dinner plate and roll up so it can be sliced. Set aside and keep warm.

Turn the pan up to high, add a little oil, the frozen peas and corn and the chopped capsicum. Fry on high heat until they’ve thawed and gained a little char, this really brings out the flavour. Once they’ve cooked through (maybe 8 minutes, but squeeze a pea to check its cooked), pour out into a very large bowl, cover and keep warm. Now add the salmon, to the pan and give it a little sear; add the lobster and prawns, and fry until just cooked through (around 5 or 6 minutes, seafood will continue to cook with residual heat so don’t overestimate how much cooking time it needs). Remembering that the pan is on high heat, move the seafood around so it doesn’t catch, a little char is good, a lot of char is burnt.

Decant the seafood into the veggie bowl and set aside with a foil lid on it to keep it warm. Now turn the heat down to medium. Add a little more oil to the pan, add the garlic and the ginger and fry until they’re aromatic and cooked through, around 5 minutes will do. Add the sesame oil (this is for flavouring, not for frying). Carefully pour in the rice and coat evenly in the oils, garlic and ginger. I say carefully, as I managed to toss large clumps of rice out onto the stove top due to my usual enthusiastic stirring method. You’re warming and flavouring the rice through here, not cooking it, so don’t overheat at this stage. Add the soy sauce and a dash of white pepper and stir slowly until it’s all combined and everything has been heated through, then pour the rice and seasonings into the very large veggie/seafood bowl and combine it all together without smooshing and overcooking.

Spoon very generous helpings into separate bowls, top with fresh coriander, a lime wedge and the chopped omelette and serve a big glass of oaky chardonnay. Delicious!